Monday, January 23, 2012

Dragon Year, Day One! ♥

Day 1 of the Lunar New Year is coming to an end. How was yours?

My day was great and it just ended off with a thick abalone in my tummy. ;)

I guess I have a habit of describing a recent event "different" from the previous. Bet I always do that, in fact. The truth is, Lunar New Year this time IS different. Hurrr~ xD Apart from the annual Spring Cleaning, we were pretty much very involved in all the chores this year. Which is different!

And the greatest difference from the previous?

Sister and I helped out in the kitchen today. :)

Cooking lunch for 14 people!!!ps: Can't count 14 in the picture above because 4 of my relatives left already!

I don't remember us doing anything of that sort in the past. We were mostly up late, then do our greetings and wishes before foooooood! This year, we helped out a lot! It's kindda... nice to be serving the family. Lol. But wait, I have to say this.... Though I enjoyed what I've done this afternoon, I would rather not be responsible for such gathering! As in the cooking and the hosting. So many things to do, so many things to clean! Lol.

ANYWAYS. Have also came up with the decision to make full full use of the Lunar New Year holidays! Sleep less. :D Even if it means risking my complexion. >< Slept really late last night (but then again, it was because I couldn't sleep. lol), and woke up rather early this morning. Felt like it's been a really long day! :D OH OH OH! Also, I cooked bobo chacha for lunch's dessert. HEHHEEEEEE! Everyone liked it and I'm happy. ^^ After lunch was clean up. &Then was chill together watching TV before our third Uncle leave (earliest, as usual) and we washed up to head out with photo taking ending everyone's Day One visiting. ^^

This was last night. :)
Can't remember since when, but our reunion dinner is always buffet type. I.WANT.STEAMBOAT. :(

Oh ya, my nails for the festive. HEHE.

Me up early before we got really busy! :)

Cooking bobo chacha! ^^
The reason for the color was the sugar we used!

After all the busying in the kitchen, we finally got time to officially greet and wish our granny and parents! ^^
I saw that some of my friends do their wishing standing up and all so I'm not sure if it's unusual for us to actually kneel down doing it. LOL. But anyways, we've been doing it for years.... so yeah. :)

I found a mysterious blue-black on both my knees today though. :O
Definitely not from the kneeling. :O :O

Comical Dad.
Proud of myself for snapping this. HEHE.
So candid. :)

"Jie, what do I say?"

RED PACKETS IN EXCHANGE!!!

Just a little digression. I have no idea if it's been a long while or just since last year; but red packets are no longer the key highlight of Lunar New Year to me anymore. :/ (I bet I've mentioned this before!) The get-together has a greater significance in my heart. Though I hardly speak to my cousins and all, it's nice to just gather for a meal.

Red packets are just the plus side of Lunar New Year. Maybe because it doesn't exactly increases the figures in my bank by alot? Lol.

It's definitely no longer the thing that I look for in LNY anymore. :/

Am I weird? Lol.

Another candid shot of my Dad. LOL.

Have to upload this because I think my sister's expression is too cute! HEHE.

It's darn hard to snap a good shot of babies.
Even harder for Jamiee since she practically don't smile often!

But awwwwww~~~ her... dipples!

Happy baby is happy. Lol.

Her face 98% of the time. LOL!
No kid.
For real.

So, after all the photo taking and printing~ We finally left for our movie. :)

Since last year, we no longer have a place to visit on the first day of Lunar New Year. Instead, we headed out for a movie.

"It's A Great Great World" was what we watched last year.

This year, it was "Dance Dance Dragon (龙众舞)" and "Jack & Jill".

I guess this is one of the reasons why red packets are no longer the main thing about Chinese New Year...... For starters, our celebration is considered one of the simplest with just a normal dinner & lunch and no gambling at all... Not that we don't but we just don't have this habit of playing blackjack, poker or mahjong during Chinese New Year. We just sit around and watch TV. Hahahaha.

&Ever since we lost one of our relatives, our visiting just downsized to just one.
My maternal side.

So, Chinese New Year is just... a festive to gather for good food and quality watch TV together time. Lol. &Then day one ends with movies! ^^

OKAY! Enough about my thoughts on CNY and red packets!

Oh, and by the way!

THIS TOTALLY FREAKED US.

Because we thought it's like.. two movies? So we got ourselves large popcorn and drinks~ End up, popcorn was our high-tea, movie snacks and dinner. Of course, we didn't finish the popcorn! But I'm definitely not gonna eat popcorn for a while~~~~

MOVIE INTERVAL!

&Here are some of my favourite shots for the day. :)
Happy family, serious baby. lol.

Grandma and my aunt's mama. :)
They are all smiling really widely because my mother made them laugh.
It was suppose to make Jamiee smile but..........
SHE'S AN ICE PRINCESS!!!

&To sum up this entry, here's a Facebook status one of my childhood friends have updated. Sharing this because it speaks my heart and mind for Lunar New Year 101%. :)

"When we were young, the only two things that we cared for during Chinese New Year was collecting red packets and eating all the CNY goodies. Having a reunion with our family didn't really cross our minds at that time as we often see each other. As the years passed, we lost some of our loved ones and also gain new family members, this makes us realize how important our family is to us. But this was all too late, everyone is busy with their own studies/work now that we meet only once or twice a year. Fortunately, we still have Chinese New Year where everyone will put everything they have at hand to gather for this festive season. So people, for this year's Chinese New Year besides thinking about good fortune, prosperity, health, let's all cherish the time that we are able to spend together with our family this festive season! Happy Chinese New year! :)"